Report: Documents Show New Details About Sexual Harassment On UW Campuses

The University of Wisconsin System has released new details on dozens of complaints of sexual harassment.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel obtained reports on nearly 100 cases involving employees in teaching, advisory or supervisory positions. The newspaper is seeking additional information from some campuses regarding some of the claims.

Reporter Karen Herzog wrote about the documents in a piece published Monday, and spoke with WPR about what the documents show. This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

Brady Carlson: The UW System investigated nearly 100 cases going back to 2014. What kinds of complaints are in these documents?

Karen Herzog: They vary widely. A lot of them are students that are involved; I’d say a little bit over half are students. Quite a few others are professors or instructors. What I noticed about these cases was one of the most common themes was that a professor made inappropriate comments in class or sent inappropriate emails. There were some cases where there was travel involved where there was inappropriate contact.

And it’s important to note that the only formal investigations they (the universities or colleges) had are people who are willing to complain with their name attached to it. If you want to remain anonymous, they can’t do a formal investigation because due process requires that the accused be able to defend themselves.

BC: And what were the universities’ responses like in these cases? Were there, for example, disciplinary measures taken, and if so, what kinds?

KH: That also varied widely. Of course, it’s really hard to say what is the appropriate action in the case if you don’t know the details, but the findings — if (for example) there was a relationship involving a professor and a student, if that was violated, quite typically it would be mandatory training for awareness of sexual harassment.

There were several cases where employees were fired.

There were a couple at UW Colleges.

One was a student who complained of inappropriate texting via cellphone, and that was found to be a violation of the policy and the employee was discontinued. In other words, their contract was not renewed. There was also a case, though, at UW-Green Bay of someone who said that a professor had forced students to wear two-piece swimsuits. That was determined to be no violation, and the action that was reported in the summary that UW System gave me said, “investigation revealed no evidence that two-piece suits were required.”

There were a couple of financial settlements, by the way, at UW-Oshkosh, but interestingly, they concluded there was no violation of university policy. Those were cases where an employee alleged to have harassed a complainant who reported it to a supervisor and (the) supervisor terminated (the) employee in retaliation. And again, it’s not clear whether there’s a student involved in that, but the individual is a faculty member. (We) don’t know if it’s the same faculty member, (or a) separate case, but those were both last year.

BC: All of this comes at a time where the university system has been trying to overhaul its approach to preventing and addressing harassment. That’s been ongoing since 2014.

KH: There’s mandatory training now that, in the past, was required only when someone was accused of something. Now it’s a case where all employees have to take this mandatory training.

There also are different channels for making sure that things are reported in a way that they can be tracked. (The) UW System has made quite a few changes … it’s this greater awareness of this issue, and frankly, I think that the tolerance has evolved. A few years ago something that might have been handled internally or informally today would be a much more serious matter because of the climate in our country and how many cases have been brought to the forefront across the country in workplaces.